Crystal Cove cottage renovations are ready to start again after nearly 2 decades

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Crystal Cove cottage #11, shown in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is one of the north beach cottages that will be part of the second phase of restoration. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the restoration after securing about half the funds needed to launch the first portion of the five-year project. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Laura Davick chips away at the paint inside the dilapidated white cottage, the pieces crumbling at the touch of her fingers.

Inside the vacant home, termite droppings cover a counter near the kitchen. A cabinet glass is shattered in half, jagged, sharp pieces left behind.

The claw-foot tub is a keeper, because it’s a part of history, but will probably be used for an outside garden. The red brick on the fireplace will have to be analyzed, to see if it was built between 1935 to 1955, which will determine whether it can stay.

The Crystal Cove Conservancy this week announced they are ready to break ground by January on the second phase of restoring the remaining 17 vacant, tattered Crystal Cove State Park cottages after securing half the funds needed – $19 million – to launch the first portion of the five-year project.

Crystal Cove State Beach cottage #31, shown in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is one of the north beach cottages that will be part of the second phase of restoration. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the restoration after securing about half the funds needed to launch the final portion of the five-year project. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Beachgoers can be seen beyond the chainlink fence through the door of north beach cottage #4 in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the final phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The interior of north beach cottage #4 in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages which includes cottage #4. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The kitchen of north beach cottage #4 in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages which includes cottage #4. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The bathroom of north beach cottage #4 in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages which includes cottage #4. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A vintage photo of Crystal Cove north beach cottage #4 with a sign bearing the name given to the cottage, Flotsam and Jetsam. (Photo Courtesy Laura Davick Collection)

A sign on one of the north Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 announces the area is closed to the public. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Crystal Cove cottage #11, shown in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is one of the north beach cottages that will be part of the second phase of restoration. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

North Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 will be part of the second phase of restoration. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the restoration after securing about half the funds needed to launch the first portion of the five-year project. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The remains of the original boardwalk can be seen next to the fence that surrounds the Crystal Cove north beach cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. A new boardwalk will be part of the renovation project. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A overhead view of the north Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A fire pit at Crystal Cove State Beach cottage #4 in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 will not be rebuilt in as part of the renovation project because it was not original to the cottages. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The north beach Crystal Cove State Beach cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Janna and Nick Reiff, of Santa Monica enjoy the beach with their 20-month-old daughter near the north beach Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Crystal Cove cottage #11, shown in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018, is one of the north beach cottages that will be part of the second phase of restoration. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the restoration after securing about half the funds needed to launch the first portion of the five-year project. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The north Crystal Cove cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The north beach Crystal Cove State Beach cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 are sealed off from the public with a chainlink fence. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The north beach Crystal Cove State Beach cottages in Newport Beach on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. The Crystal Cove Conservancy announced they are ready to break ground on the second phase of restoring the remaining Crystal Cove cottages. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A vintage photo showing horses on the beach with the Crystal Cove north beach cottages in the background. (Photo Courtesy Laura Davick Collection)

The scene in the white cottage, which has sat empty and behind a rusty metal gate along with 16 others since 2001, is a stark difference to the bustling beach nearby, where visitors trickle in for a vacation like no other along the California coast, staying in coveted cottages that are so in-demand complaints flood in over frustration of not being able to nab a spot.

For Davick, bringing back the crumbling cottages on the north end of the beach is the start of a new chapter for the one-of-a-kind Crystal Cove historic district — and the beginning of the end for her nearly 20-year effort to keep this slice of the coast the way it was when she was a child.

“This is the final vision,” Davick, vice president and founder of the conservancy, said.

But preserving the past – and finding the remaining funds to do it – will be no easy task.

Community of ‘coveites’

The people who stayed in tents along the coast here in the ’20s and ’30s started building houses with whatever they could find washed up on shore.

Some homes were built with wood that washed up after a boat capsized in 1927, while other people starting hauling supplies in from elsewhere to the area tucked between Newport Beach and Laguna, hidden by cliffs from the rest of the world.

“This was during the Depression, there was no Home Depot they could go to,” Davick said.

There was no master plan, no architects. Each had personality and character, a style dubbed “early vernacular architecture” once common along the coast – the last of its kind, and a reason why this area is considered a historic district worth preserving.

“Coveites,” as they were called — Davick, a third-generation resident whose family came here in 1937, was one of them — enjoyed decades of carefree living.

They had beach-side lobster-and-clam bakes, plucked dinner straight from the sea and broke out the booze with the rise of the martini flag at 5 p.m.

In 1979, the state purchased the 3,000-acre Crystal Cove area from the Irvine Co. for $32.6 million. Davick, who founded the non-profit Crystal Cove Conservancy, and others fought against a luxury resort planned for the area.

“There would have been three swimming pools, valet parking and rooms would have been $1,500 a night,” she proudly tells visitors laying on the sand on a recent day.

The cottages were occupied by families until 2001, when their leases expired and the state evicted them to make way for planned public lodging, with 29 cottages restored to date.

These days, those overnight stays are among the most in-demand “camping” spots run by the state – and opening up the remaining 17 spots will give 24,000 more opportunities a year to stay overnight at the cottages, said Alix Dunn, president of the Crystal Cove Conservancy.

“This has been cut off from the public,” she said.

But first, the foundation must be built.

First steps

The $19 million in private donations and loans already secured will pay for the final phase to install infrastructure, adding sewer lines and underground electricity, a process expected to take two years.

Retaining walls must be erected to maintain the integrity of natural bluffs that back the cottages, and a wooded boardwalk – much like was once there decades ago — will be built to give the public access.

The cottages have to adhere to California Coastal Commission regulations to build for 2050 expected sea level rise, which means some of the homes and the boardwalk will be on caissons so rising water can flow under them during storm events and high tides.

Some will need to be cataloged, then completely pulled apart and kept in container storage, just so contractors can access the tight areas. Others are so run down they will have to be completely rebuilt.

“We’re not using a flat piece of land that we’ll be putting a building on. What we’re dealing with is a hugely sensitive piece of property,” Dunn said. “It’s complex, it’s a bluff, we have the sea, we have the beach.”

Historic preservation

From a deck overlooking the turquoise blue water, Dunn points down to slanted telephone poles, wires weaving across the sky.

They don’t work, but they will stay.

“They are not functional, but they are representative of the time period,” she said.

And that’s the delicate balance the conservancy and California State Parks must find – restoring and recreating what it was like during the historically significant time between 1935 and 1955 — while hunting for clues on what must stay and what should go.

An additional bedroom or anything else built after 1955, or example, would be removed.

Cultural historical preservationists will be hired to uncover layers of paint inside and out, to find the original hues in order to recreate them.

The infrastructure work is expected to take two years to complete.

During the infrastructure phase the conservancy will be trying to secure an additional $19 million in state funds while also lobbying the public for donations so they can start the historic preservation piece of the puzzle.

“That’s why we’re so aggressive right now in what we’re trying to do – we’re still going to flip over every rock and look for funding,” Dunn said. “But we still need the community to help us.”

The announcement that the final phase is about to kick off puts an end to the long waiting game that has plagued the area. Permitting alone took about six years.

Laylan Connelly started as a journalist in 2002 after earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Through the years, she has covered several cities for The Orange County Register, starting as a beat reporter in Irvine before focusing on coastal cities such as Newport Beach, Dana Point and Laguna Beach. In 2007, she was selected for a prestigious Knight New Media fellowship focusing on digital media at UC Berkeley, where she learned skills to adapt to the ever-changing online landscape. Using a web-based approach, she turned her love for the ocean into a full-time gig as the paper’s beaches reporter. The unique beat allows her to delve into coastal culture by covering everything from the countless events dotting the 42 miles of coastline, to the business climate of the surf industry, to the fascinating wildlife that shows up on the shores. Most importantly, she takes pride in telling stories of the people who make the beaches so special, whether they are surfers using the ocean to heal, or the founders of major surf brands who helped spawn an entire culture, or people who tirelessly fight to keep the coast pristine and open for all to enjoy. She’s a world traveler who loves to explore the slopes during winter months or exotic surf spots around the globe. When she’s not working, or maybe while she's researching a story, you can find her longboarding at her favorite surf spots at San Onofre or Doheny.